For me there were a lot of factors that all came together for IP.
- losing my mom in Dec 2010 I decided to get rid of the weight once and for all. In May I joined WW online and started seeing a nutritionist weekly. I had some success and was working away. I usually would spend my summers with my Dad in BC. I loved going there because it wasn't too hot (unlike Bda in the summer) and I could do aquafit everyday if I wanted for $2 a session. (In Bda we don't really have 'public' pools so aquafit costs $20+ per session.)

So I spent the summer there and worked my tail off only to lose 5 pds in 5 weeks. I was disheartened and derailed for a couple of weeks but then got back OP only to lose my Dad unexpectedly that October.

Needless to say, I was devastated. My parents had been divorced since I was a little girl and so to lose my two pillars of support was almost unbearable. At that point all I could focus on was getting through each day. I didn't start to eat crazy stuff, I just didn't care at all what I ate. I ate whatever was fixed for meals.

So I gained back all I'd lost. Then my hubby and I got pneumonia and that scared me. The feeling of being unable to breathe/feel like I was going to die was horrible. Not to mention that I had to use a wheelchair to get through airports, to get on board the cruise ship... Awful and embarrassing.

Then last May my good knee started bothering me. By the time school was finished in June, I was having to use a cane to get around. Being a primary school teacher is a pretty active job and I started dreading going back to work because I knew it was going to be almost physically impossible.

I'd heard about IP the year before and had a friend who was doing it. She had been very successful but said the doctors running it were mean and insensitive. At the time I thought, "oh I don't think that's for me" but somehow with everything else going on I reached the conclusion that I was just going to have to take my lumps from the doctors and do IP anyway. I needed a kickstart.

(Here in Bda there's only one IP program available and it takes upwards of 3-6 months to get in. I applied in July and finally got the go-ahead and started in late September.)

I'm happy to report I haven't found the doctors to be unpleasant and so it hasn't been as rough as I thought it would be.

I feel like this is the right road for me and that I can actually do this.

Everyone around me knows I'm doing it and have been so incredibly supportive. Plus, I found y'all and that's helping too.